Meet Michael: someone with substance use disorder in long-term recovery. He is a non-believer who took his doctor's advice to try AA, even if he was concerned about the God-thing. Michael realized his concerns were unfounded. 

We Sober Agnostics is Michael's journey and thoughts in a Living Sober-sized booklet called WE SOBER AGNOSTICS

Google Rebellion Dogs Radio for more (Episode 71)
 
Our musical contribution is Montreal synth pop-rock band Your Ex And I (YXNI) and their 2023 debut "For all the Loves."
I really enjoyed my chat with Michael; it was joyful to get to experience his recovery, view of life and approach to living sober. Today's show has music and a 12-Step Life book that are both brand new this year and both sound familiar. Synth-pop: Going back to my early recovery, The Human League, Depeche Mode, New Order, Yazoo, and so on, I find in today's indie world, nothing someone loves ever dies. There are people today making the music you love if you are tiring of adult contemporary "best of the 70s, 80s, 90s" nostalgia.

So too with recovery, be it a Big Book AA meeting or Life Ring or She Recovers, what is old is new again with slightly different haircuts. Michael has been an atheist/agnostic since last century but he's comfortable in mainstream AA, prefers face-to-face meetings and we hear all about it today.

I hope you enjoy our chit-chat as much as I did.

rdr 71 WE SOBER AGNOSTICS

Have you ever seen someone pick up the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous and say, "How did I get sober? The same way as the first 100 members did, working the Twelve Steps, exactly as written in this book." 

That's a compelling story; convincing. In so many words, I've heard variations of this, from the podium, from across the table, in a coffee shop. I don't doubt that this isn't how the teller of the story got sober - working the Twelve Steps, as outlined in the book, Alcoholics Anonymous. But is that how the original 100 did it? 

It's been 40 years since a scholarly account of early history was made available to us. It was Not God: The History of Alcoholics Anonymous by Ernie Kurtz. November 5th a new book - Writing the Big Book: The Creation of A.A. by William Schaberg revisits early AA by comparing the stories we've all heard against contemporaneous records, letters, documents and the diary of Lois Wilson, Bill W's wife.  

On Episode 49 of Rebellion Dogs Radio, we hear from author William Schaberg about what he found over the last eleven years of research and writing. Schaberg challenges of what we all believe to be true about the “running blind” days of AA. He’s not fault finding; he’s fact-finding. The truth will set us free, we’re told. Some of what we have heard is accurate and some of it parables, the essence of what happened but not exactly factual; in some cases, mythical. 

Ernie Kurtz & Katherine Ketcham, wrote in 2014:
“What is the relationship between narrative and myth? Myth often presents itself as narrative… Does that somehow invalidate it? Perhaps, for some individuals. But if we remember that ‘a myth is something that never happened because it is always happening,’ the narrative wrapping may be deep truth’s best alias. There is something about how people hear such stories.”

So, I believe the person who tells how they got sober while waving the Big Book in their hand. Ironically, the means of getting sober may be truer of the last 100 members than it was of the first 100. Listen to Episode 49 for the rest of this story. Visit https://rebelliondogspublishing.com/rebellious-radio for show notes and links or to join the conversation.

Writing The Big Book Rebellion Dogs Radio 49

Author of the daily reflection book, Beyond Belief: Agnostic Musings for 12 Step Life, Joe C hosts a 21st century look at 12-Step Life, now with less dogma and more bite.

We interview authors, 12-Step members and addiction/recovery professionals and talk about current events and 12-Step culture and history. 